Weapons are items that increase the damage dealt by creatures in combat. In fortress mode, after accessing the military screen with m, pressing w gives a list of which weapons you desire your dwarves to use. Dwarves only carry a weapon if their profession requires one: that is, if they are a miner, wood cutter, hunter, or soldier. Dwarves working in other trades will only collect a weapon upon being drafted, which may cause a long walk to collect equipment depending on weapon availability and settings.

Some types of weapons cannot be used by dwarves in Fortress mode, such as bows, and only 7 can be manufactured. Some can however be used if recovered from enemies or gained by trade, and all can be used in weapon traps just fine.

In Adventure mode, all weapons are usable; an adventurer can become a bowdwarf, or use a human great axe or longsword in one hand despite the fact that he is smaller than the minimum size required to use the axe at all, with both hands or one. It is not clear if there are any penalties associated with using over-sized weapons.

The material of crossbows does not affect the damage of fired bolts, although it does affect the damage of the crossbow when it is used as a bludgeon (when striking the opponent with the weapon itself - bolts determine the damage when fired at range).

Upon being drafted, dwarves will get a "pick up equipment" job and go and pick up the assigned weapon and armor. However, there are three labors which, when enabled, allow the dwarf to be fully equipped (but not in the military). This can be very useful to quickly defend against an ambush or attack.

A wood cutter carries a battle axe even as a civilian. If a woodcutter is assigned to use an axe as a weapon he or she will only need get the assigned armor. The caveat is that woodcutters need to be cross-trained as axedwarfs (as wielding an axe requires the axe skill) and if you designate a section of trees for wood-cutting, all your dwarves will rush out to cut them down.

A miner carries a pick at all times. The drawback is that picks are mediocre weapons (see below) and a miner will still need to equip the desired armor. Because wielding the pick is based on the civilian "mining" skill, miners don't have to train as soldiers to be semi-effective fighters. Picks will only be used as weapons by miners who are holding picks and instructed to fight unarmed.

A hunter will equip the armor and weapon assigned to hunt with (Note: this needn't be a crossbow with leather armor). Military dwarves that are deactivated while fully equipped with a weapon and armor and have the hunting labor enabled will keep their weapon and armor equipped. This case is only practical when the surrounding region contains no animals and armor and weapons are plentiful.

Weapons vary in the amount and type of damage inflicted, according to raw/objects/item_weapon.txt. Blunt weapons like hammers and maces tend to deal large amounts of damage to external body parts, and never get stuck in targets. Slashing or cutting weapons such as axes or swords have a tendency to sever limbs on good hits, but sometimes get stuck in their victims. Piercing weapons such as spears or crossbow bolts have a high chance to deal damage to internal organs, possibly resulting in instant kills, but have the highest chance to get stuck in victims. Weapons that get stuck in their victims cannot be reused until pulled free, which can leave the attacker vulnerable. While stuck, the weapon can be twisted in the wound, possibly causing the victim to pass out from pain.

High "Crit. Boost" is a better chance of causing internal injuries, rather than simply wounding body parts. This is useful against big, hard-to-damage enemies -- piercing weapons like spears will tend to damage their organs, which is usually a faster way to take them out.

Dwarves can only make metal weapons out of silver, copper, bronze, iron, steel, or adamantine, the only so-called "weapons-grade" metals in the game. (Short swords can also be made from one obsidian plus one log for a wooden handle.) The only exceptions are from elves, who commonly wield wooden weapons.

Actual weapon damage depends partially on the material from which the weapon was forged, then multiplied by quality (see next section). For example, a copper battle axe does a base 73 damage (110 x 66%), while a steel axe does 146 damage (110 x 133%), etc.

1) includes bone, silver, wood, glass, and any other material not listed. The net effect of non-standard "other" materials on artifact weapons is not known.

So at a glance we can see that even a no-quality steel item is the equivalent to the best copper item possible, and that no copper item will ever be as good as a +fine iron+ one. (It is not known whether artifact quality items have additional modifiers above and beyond "masterpiece" level.)

Adamantine items start at a multiplier of 5.00 for no-quality items and skyrocket from there.

(Note that for crossbows and bows, the quality and material of the ammo affect ranged damage. As with any melee weapon, both quality and material combined affect melee combat and melee damage with these weapons.)